ReBeL Squadron: The Internal VS. War.
by RBL-M1A2Tanker
Summary: RBL_M1A2Tanker decides to defect to the Empire! Or does he? ReBeL Squadron launches to stop him...but, in the cold of space, they'll battle 1v1, sometimes 2v1. In the end, There Can be Only One.


_***Authors' Note:** This was a jointly written story by me and a few others in the gaming club that I'm in. It was set to a war that I set up at Battlestats.com for everyone in the squad to attack me. Basically a Everyone vs. Me war. Was great fun, and I intend to do it again. Whether there is a story to go with that one or not…remains to be seen. When someone else's work is entered, I'll clue you in, just so you know._

Enjoy!  
**¤§¤  
M1A2Tanker***

**_ReBeL Squadron: The Internal VS. War_**

_**There can be only one…or can there?**_

Dark trots down to "Admiral's Row" in the RBL station to pay a visit to Tanker after a long day of cleaning the trout tank and fixing all the bent... 

With a loud THUD Dark leaves a new dent in a bulkhead. 

"Oooow!!! Man, I've gotta get my head checked out...this hurts!" Dark lamented, rubbing his head. As he reached Tank's quarters just outside the "Admirals Row" of quarters, Dark noticed something amiss. 

"Hey...why's his door open?" Curious, Dark steps in to take a look, calling for Tank. 

"Yo, Tanker. You here?" The normally sparse room was now completely empty of personal effects. Concerned now, Dark looked around for any clues as to what happened. "Where did he go? He doesn't just up and leave without telling anyone." 

**THUD! **

"Oww!" He rubbed his head again, after hitting another bulkhead. 

"Wait a sec...that didn't feel like a bulkhead..." He looked up, it was the case Tank used to hold his lightsaber. Like the room, it was empty as well, except that there was a note inside. 

Curiosity getting the better of him, he opened the case and took a look at the note. 

_"To whomever finds this note, Greetings. I am defecting to OBS, taking everything I know with me. Don't try to stop me, you can't. I doubt anyone in RBL can. My ride will be arriving shortly just outside the asteroid field and to the left of the station. You can't find me, and you can't stop me. If you think you can though, be my guest. Once you catch me though, just remember this... _

**There can be only one."**

"Oh my lord..." Dark managed to get out before something metallic hit him, knocking him out. 

"Darnit Dark...you weren't supposed to get it this soon." Tank mumbled after placing the comatose Dark on the bed. 

"Oh well, at least I won't have to fight him for a couple days." He attached his saber back on his belt, and slipped back out of his room. "That's the last time I forget my Pepsi!" He mumbled to himself as he headed towards the hangers, and his customized Xwing. 

With a rapid swooosh, the door to the Admirals hanger opened, allowing Tank access. His R2, Bolt, bleeped at him from his perch in his socket. 

"Yes Bolt, we're leaving now." Just then alarms started to sound as Aslan's voice came across the PA system. 

_"Attention all hands, man your battlestations. Pilots, get to your fighters, we have a defector to stop! Orders, track down and take out M1A2Tanker."_

Some crewmembers who were in the hanger glanced over at Tanker in shock. A couple rushed at him, charging for all they were worth to tackle. 

"Common, you can do better than that." Tank chuckled as he rasied a hand. The two crewmembers flew backwards several feet before landing painfully. 

"Time to go." Tank rushed into the cockpit of his X, and sped through the preflight checks as fast as he possibly could. 

Looking up he saw troops pouring into the hanger, weapons aimed at his ship. "Aww man. I hate to do this to the new paint job in here." Slaming the acceleration home, Tank blasted out of the hanger, scorching the walls slightly from his exhaust trail. Blaster bolts passed around him, and while some hit, they bounced off his deflector shields. 

Space suddenly filled with turbolaser and laser blasts, far bigger and more dangerous than a blaster bolt. Flipping his X he dove between the two station parts of RBL Home in a desperate, yet successful attempt to escape. "This ploy better work. The squad needs it something fierce." He mumbled, mentally kicking himself for coming up with such a stupid idea. 

"At least the laser crews are on their toes still" He said cheerfully as he dodged about. 

Within moments Tank was in the asteroid field, with several RBL fighters giving chase. 

_*The following was written by RBL_Simon*_

Just returning from a recognition run uncovering strange fleet movements of OBS, Simon sees a X-Wing darting out of the station heading to the asteriod field. 

Flashes from the turbolaser turrets dance around the craft trying to stop this obviously skilled pilot. 

Crackling the radios starts to transmit the voice of Admiral Aslan: _"All stations! ReBeL Flight Control. Stop M1A2Tanker by all means! I repeat: All stations! ReBeL Flight Control Stop M1A2Tanker by all means! Take out this X-Wing!" _

_"This can't be true."_Simon thinks for the flash of a moment, going back to routine he calculates the remaining flying time keeping the safty reserve. "Only 15 minutes..." he says to himself while locking the target into the computer. 

"ReBeL Flight Control. Hawk 1. Target in sight. Confirming tracking down target." 

Using the superior speed of his A-Wing he picks up with Tanker. "I probably won't stop him but it will give the other squads time to launch and catch up with him." Simon realises. 

Out of the cover of a huge asteroid Simon dives down on Tanker. Red lasers cut the space, reaching their fingers out to the fleeing craft. 

Apperantly surprised to be attacked that early, Tanker breaks a little late aside. Nearly crashing into an asteroid the X-Wing slows down to combat speed and turns. Simon overshooting the target in his A-Wing was able to take short glimbs of Tank giving Simon a grim look. 

Returning head to head the two crafts exchange their laser blasts. Sparks can be seen when the lasers touch the shields. The fight is short but hard going around the asteroids and from side to side. 

Then Tanker's laser found a weak spot in Simons defense directly hitting the frame. After the sound of the impact, all noise dies and the A-Wing's flight controls doesn't respond any more. "Dang, I'm done!" Simon thinks, seeing Tank closing in from behind. 

But what is that? Tank doesn't unload his laser energy at the poor craft floating helplessly through space. "Is it possible that I damaged his weapon systems?" Simon asks in amazement. Then the engine starts to roar again and he moves out at full speed, flying a straight line. 

"I hope there isn't any asteroids ahead as long as I still lack my flight control" Simon hopes, when he notices two new dots on the scanner closing in. "Hey that's Wraith and Arson, they will stop him, my work here is done!" 

Regaining flight controls, Simon leaves the asteroid field, pointing the craft towards the station... 

_*The following was written by RBL_Snoopy*_

Snoopy mutters to himself, "Now how did HE know that the squad was going to be undergoing maintenance just when this little skirmish was going to start?"

_*Checks Tankers planning logs suspiciously* _

"Head start indeed..." He heads for the Wraith squadron hangers. "Well, guess it's time to lighten the load in my little sopwith camel and install those boosters I've been toying with. Soon as I finish, I'll flip the ignition switch and be in the thick of it before I (and Tanker) know it!"

_*The following is my work.*_

As Tank plunges deeper into the field at high speed, he mutters, "Man...I coulda sworn they were quicker than this...." A sudden sense, and Tank sideslips his X. 

"BAH!!! No you idiot there's a rock there!" Tank yells at himself as he sidslips again to avoid an asteroid. As he was chopping his speed down to normal combat power, a screech could be felt and heard in the tiny cockpit. Tank looked up, glancing at an Awing and the pilot within. 

"Simon." Tank said, nodding grimly. He boosted his shields to full front as the speedy craft of his opponent flitted away, coming back around for a head to head pass. 

The battle was short. Around asteroids, circling, dodging, weaving about. Laser blasts reached out, and missed fairly often for both pilots, although not by much. 

Finally, by more sheer dumb luck than skill (although that did play a small part) Tank managed to get a shot in under Simon's deflector shield and into the belly of the Awing, knocking out his controls and engines. Tank flew about, looking the Awing over. 

"He's down. Nice match though Simon." Tank pulled away as Simon's ship regained it's thrust, hurtling away from the combat zone. A beep caught Tanks attention away from Simon and to the sensors. 

"Well, Simon managed to slow me up. Here comes Wraith and Arson." Tank gunned his X, again boosting power to the forward shields as his newest opponents charged in their Xwings. 

Orange light filled the fields as the three went at each other. Again, the battle was fast and furious as the two experienced pilots took on Tank. 

"Darn good wings they make. Whew...nice shot." A shot fizziled from Arson's quad cannon, barely stopped by his shield. 

"Time to end this." Tank pulled a reverse immelman, slipping behind Wraith when he wasn't looking, and nailing his engines with his own quad blast, melting them to slag. A blast barely missed from behind, reminding him of his other opponent. 

"Ok Arson, I'm coming. Sheesh, so impatient." Another blast puncuated his statement as they went at it for a few more minutes. Finally, Tank wore out Arson's shield, and landed a blast into the intake of Arson's right upper engine. It burst into flames, but was quickly put out by Arson's fast extinguisher action. 

Tank watched as Arson limped away back to the station, but pulled down hard as another blast came from nowhere. "Whew...that was close. Where are they?" He looked about, and finally saw his latest opponents. 

"Snowbird and VaderCat." Tank nodded grimly again as he blasted into battle. 

As before, the fight was fast and vicious. Good wings, they still couldn't quite knock the Jedi Master down enough to put him out of commision. 

Tank looped away after disabling or damaging their Xwings, dodging asteroids as he went deeper into the field. 

"I wonder who's next?" Tank said aloud. 

_*The following was written by RBL_Aslan (a six-foot tall, blue furred horned Ewok…don't ask.)*_

As Tank was feeling pretty good about himself he sensed a distubance in the Force! As if somthing dear to him was being hurt or tortured! Suddenly he felt his Craft take a jolt from what seemed nowhere and saw what he thought was an Imperial Tie Interceptor appear than disappear?? He was jolted again by the same ghosty Craft. 

Tank suddenly turned about and took cover in a large asteriod when he then heard the voice and laughter of a forboding tone that said,_ "Oooooooooh Taaaaank I have your Teddy Bear!!! Want to see him Alive and in one piece I suggest you return to the RBL station or else...MuhahahahahhahaYUB the Teddy gets it!!"_

Suddenly Tank sees the unmistakable ghosty TI of...ASLAN!!...And it has a cloking device it seems.........

_*The following was written by RBL_Vapor.*_

_Just before the battle…_

He could feel it working, yet he still doubted it was actually happening. The blaster lifted off the table slowly. "It's....not going to work" Vapor said doubtfully. The blaster dropped back onto the table with a crack. Slightly fatigued Vapor turned his eyes to the cloaked figure looming near the edge of the cargobay. "Are we done for today yet?" 

The dark figure beneath the hood said nothing, but only waved his hand. The blaster flew up from the table like a bird taking flight. It hovered in place a few inches in front of Vapor's face. The light bounced off of every curve in the frame as it rotated. The dark figure drew his lightsaber and effortlessly drew a small circle on the wall with the point of the blade. The blaster began to spin faster and faster. It spun so fast it was impossible to tell which end was facing which direction. With a flash of light the blaster was back on the table and a burn had been scorched in the middle of the circle. 

Needless to say, Vapor was in awe. He was anxious to try it again. Instead his counterpart said, "We are done for today". 

"Thank you for this lesson Master" Vapor mumbled. He was still unsure of this destiny he spoke about so often. Things were going fine for him and personally—he didn't mind the stillness that was— 

_"Attention all hands, man your battlestations. Pilots, get to your fighters, we have a defector to stop! Orders, track down and take out M1A2Tanker."_

"This has to be a joke. Master, I will—" He was gone. "I wish you would stop doing that!" Vapor shouted to the corners of the cargobay. 

Vapor didn't scramble to the Cobra fighterbays too quickly. Without his own silver X he knew he was no match for a Jedi Master. Besides, he hadn't quite been feeling right lately. There was something wrong, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. He strolled slowly to the fighterbay. He couldn't understand why in such a state of emergency there was little corridor traffic. Maybe the response time of the gunners was quicker than he believed. Or maybe there was a skeleton crew manning the RBLHome. Either way he wasn't expecting there to be too much action. With a light pace he strolled through the door. 

There was a brief pause while he picked his jaw up off the floor...

Vapor placed his hand along the nose of the sleek-jet black frame. The contours of the fighter were unlike anything he'd ever seen. Well, maybe he'd seen it once before--on his silver... 

"What do you think Vapor?" came a voice from behind him. Vapor spun around to meet a face he didn't recognize. This was in perfect synch with the voice--unfamiliar. 

"Who are you? Am I dreaming?" 

"We'll get into details later...let's just say that being a Jedi Knight has its advantages. Like the color scheme?" 

Vapor did. The whole skin of the fighter was doused with black aside from two pinstripes on either side of the fuselage that faded from blue to grey. The canopy was tinted dark. The engine cones glowed white hot and the ladder was on the deck. 

The four wings were swept forward and retracted into a 45 degree angle with the deck. They did not open or close, just shorten. Everything on it was just as his silver-X had been. Everything from the vectored thrust to the streaming audio system. 

Vapor turned around to thank the man, but he had disappeared. When he spun back to get in the cockpit thankfully it was still there. Vapor rubbed his eyes and headed for the ladder knowing this would be a great hunt. 

"This is Echo 3-3-4 Omega requesting clearance for launch." 

*static* 

"Control this is Echo 3-3-4. Come in!" Vapor said looking over at the control station. The swivel chair was empty. Vapor smacked his forehead. 

The bird lifted off the deck like it was designed to fly. It eased around into position and seemed to bolt out through the doors on its own. 

Clearing the Cobra hangar, the X-wings foils expanded and locked in tactical formation. Vapor juked the stick toward the asteroids and brought up a map of the field. 

"Asteroids, asteroids...why does it always have to be asteroids." He mumbled to himself before punching the throttle. The ship had an autopilot that was a dream. It made course corrections deep within the asteroid field. Then Vapor saw something. A faint exchange of orange blasterbolts off 80 clicks starboard. He stopped his craft in orbit around a large asteroid. He calibrated his scanners to detect an asteroid that was headed in their direction. He wanted to slip in undetected and in a black ship...he figured it would be all too easy... 

_*Back to me again.*_

__

Deep within the asteroid field... 

Tank and Aslan jousted with each other for what seemed like ages, but was in reality only a few minutes. The ghosty TI managed to evade Tank's blasts only barely, as Aslan juked about, still holding his teddy bear hostage. 

"Grrrr.....darn Ewok won't sit still." Tank ground out. "Guess I'll have to pull my trump card." A blast shook the frame of his X as Aslan sent a quad blast home. 

"Aslan, this is Tank..." Tank was inturrupted by Aslan's chanting. 

_"YUBYUBYUBYUBYUB, I got yer teddy bear, I got yer teddy bear and you can't stop me neener neener!" _

"Think again old friend. I got something as well. Take a look at your scanners, and check out what's in my cargo bay." Tank smiled as the chant cut off. 

_"You....you didn't!" _

"Yup, sure did." While they were talking they continued their chase, around asteroids and each other. 

_"How could you? My Ninjas..." _

"I overheard them hanging out with the Nubian princesses again. So it was a piece of cake." Tank smiled as he slowly but surely managed to slip behind the still uncloaked TI. 

"Perfect...he's distracted. One shot should do it." Tank said under his breath. 

_"YUBYUB!!! BAD NINJAS!! That's it! No soup for them! They are supposed to guard my pee tree at all times!"_ Aslan went into a litany of curses and punishments and whatnot, not realizing that his course was straightening out, and right into Tank's sights. 

"Got ya!" He fired a quad blast into Aslan's TI. Two blasts creased the right wing, with the other two drilled his engines. Smoking and sparking, Aslan quickly turned away to return to the station. Tank continued into the field, confident that he'd cleared away his opponents when he felt his ship shudder, hard. 

"What the?" He frantically glanced about. Behind him was Aslan's smoking TI. "Blast you Aslan! Why couldn't you have just gone back!" Chopping his speed and cutting hard to the right, Tank quickly flipped around an asteroid, coming at Aslan in a head to head match. Both pilots fired at the same time, both conected. Only one had to towed back. 

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Tank thanked the gods for shields. "Sorry Aslan, but you really shouldn't have taken my Teddy." Something caught his eye. 

"Eh? What's that....hey! That's my bear!" Sure enough, Tank's teddy bear floated away, to be lost forever in the asteroid field. But it didn't go alone. 

On Aslan's disabled TI, a groan could be heard as the big blue horned ewok watched his beloved pee tree floating away deeper into the field. His second to last shot had hit the cargo bay, ejecting the pee tree from within. Tank's last shot had punctured the transparisteel canopy, and the teddy bear had been sucked out from the sudden depressurization. Aslan himself would be fine, but the bear, and the TI was a loss. 

"Blast...that's another bear lost." Tank muttered as he swooped around a particularly large asteroid. 

Hot icepicks suddenly hit his mind, and he yanked the control yoke hard to the left, away from the asteroid. Seconds after the rock exploded as a bracket of turbolaser fire hit it. 

"What the..." More turbolaser and laser fire poured at him. Ion cannon blasts as well. He frantically searched the area, looking for the location of that blasts, and finally saw what it was. 

The ISD _Intrepid_, the Corellian Gunship _Swift_ and the rest of the squads had finally arrived. The other pilots had delayed his flight enough for them to get into position. Now he was very nicely boxed in. Smirking, he said, "Very good work guys. I like...Whoa!" Several ion blasts from a couple Ys passed close, shorting out some circuits, but nothing major. 

Within moments there was finally too much firepower for him to dodge, and with the exploding asteroids, turbolasers and lasers keeping him from leaving, the Y wings finally came in and disabled his craft with a flurry of ion bolts. 

A tow came out from the _Intrepid_s belly and dragged the disabled fighter back to the station, with the rest of RBL taking up guard positions around him. Less than five hours had passed since his departure, and he was being brought back in.

Upon landing in Cobra's Hanger, security forces and a couple of the other Jedi Knights on the station, Black Panther among them, surrounded teh craft. With a hiss the canopy opened slowly, and Tank stood up, stretching his muscles a bit. 

Gazing around him at the drawn weapons, Tank simply smiled, then hopped down from the cockpit, surprising quite a few of the folks around. 

A Sergeant of the guard approached, blaster aimed unflinchingly at him. "Sir, if you would hand us your weapons?" It was an order, not a suggestion. 

Tank looked at him a moment, then said, "Nah. There's no need guys. You can put your weapons away." 

This confused the Sergeant. "Sir, you don't understand, you will hand me your weapons." 

"No, you don't understand Sergeant." Tank placed his hands on his hips. "You can holster your sidearms now. The mission was a complete success. I was never going to defect to OBS. I'm surprised you guys didn't see through that one actually, but I'm glad you didn't." 

Shocked expressions gazed at him, and several where quite angry. BP strolled up and asked, "Ok then Tanker. Tell us why you stirred us up like that? That wasn't right you know." 

Tank nodded. "Yes, you're right. Under normal circumstances that is improper behavior, and a very cruel and dangerous joke. But it wasn't a joke. This was a readiness drill." 

"....a drill? All this was a bloody drill!" From the back of the hanger Vape's voice could be heard. Tank looked at him questionly, but replied, "Yes Vape. It was. As one of the major trainers for RBL, and a Senate member, it is my duty to make sure that the squad is fully capable to handle threats, and be well prepared for battle. The squad is very capable still, with a well executed plan of attack used against me. The best pilots intercepted me, while the rest followed up. You did surprise me though with the use of the capital ships. Good work." 

"I applaud you all folks. You did wonderful work." Tank turned in a circle, gazing at each in turn with a smile. Weapons were lowered, but hadn't been holstered just yet. "I'll say this though, there will be more of these readiness drills, so keep your guard up." 

BP walked right up to the shorter in stature Tanker, and promptly decked him with Dark's trout. Flailing to the ground the ex-soldier managed to catch his balance before hitting the deck. He looked up at his XO, who gazed back with a slighly chilled gaze. "That was for Dark. Did you have to hit him so hard?" 

Tank chuckled. "Heh, are you kidding Big Cat? He hits bulkheads all the time, you think that if I just used a piece of wood it would put him down? I didn't want him to blow the drill before I had managed to at least get to the ship. I do regret having to do that, and I don't blame ya for decking me." 

"To be honest, I'd feel the same way. But..." His gaze hardened, "...don't expect me to stand for more of that. I've taken what I deserved out there, and I'm quite proud with the squad for giving me a severe licking. Shows that the squad still has some major fight left in it." 

"That was a freebie BP...do it again...and I'll show you my newest acquisition." 

Wary, BP asked, "What's that?" 

Suddenly brightening Tank said cheerfully, "A 5lb catfish of course! What else would I use against a trout?" Everyone in the Hanger could have been knocked over with a feather. 

BP gazed in wonder, then, finally broke out in laughter. "Heheh, same ol Tank. Yea, you're right. I shoulda known better. Accept my apology then." He extended a furry paw, but Tank waved it off. 

"No apology necessary Big Cat. Like I said, I got what was coming to me. I'm also still right." 

"What do you mean?" Aslan asked, clutching a peetree seedling. 

"There can be only one. I never did say what the 'one' is though." Tank replied. 

"And what's that?" This from Arson who was still standing on his Ywing, the _Firefly_. 

"The 'one' is the one thing that there can only be for me. And that is ReBeL Squadron." Tank said brightly. He smiled back as BP clapped him on the back. 

"Now...seeing as I have this big Lt. Commander's paycheck now...I'm treating the whole station, plus the crews of the capital ships to the Bar and Grill!" 

Cheers filled the hanger, and some people already rushed for the door. Tank was about to follow when he felt a disturbance. 

_"What the..."_ He looked in the direction of it. _"What is wrong here? What's with Vape?"_ He gazed at the veteran Cobra pilot, concerned. 

_**To be continued…by RBL_Vapor**_

  
  
  



End file.
